If you are an aspiring techie or you just want to learn more about web design and web development, or perhaps you just want to learn how to promote your business online, there are a number of groups and organizations in Huntsville to help you through your journey to online success.
Here are four options that are available in the area:
Web Development Meet up Group
I have personally learned a lot of web development techniques from attending this meet up. I also had the opportunity to share with others some of the knowledge I have acquired over the years. The group meets once a month at Biztech, located at 515 Sparkman Drive, just across from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).
The meet up is managed by Brian Moon (one of the first guys to have a php forum online) and Keith Ford from dealnews.com. Lunch is provided gratis and is provided by dealnews.com. Regular attendees and contributors includes techies from a wide range of engineering firms in Huntsville to the small business entrepreneur to web design newbies. The hosting manager and the web designer for the UAH website are regulars.
Discussions and presentation usually include one or a number of the following website related issues: affiliate marketing, Web Standards, PHP, Open Source, Web Design, MySQL, Web Content Management Systems, Social Networking, Internet Professionals, LAMP, XAMP, Web Technology, CSS, Javascript, wordpress, plugins - anything vital to maintaining a robust online presence.
UAH professional and Continuing Studies
The University of Alabama in Huntsville provides a wide range of computer and web development courses through its continuous studies department. This is a perfect avenue for those who do not want to go through a semester system, but desire to continue their knowledge in specialize fields. Among the web base subjects are .NET Essentials, C++ Programming, MS Office SharePoint Server, MySql, Java Programming and PHP. In fact, if you are interested in learning php (Hypertext Preprocessor) an advanced PHP/MySQL Techniques course is scheduled for June 8 – July 1 on Tue/Thur evenings from 5:30pm-8:30pm. It should be open for registration on the UAH website by mid-April. The fee will be approximately $825.
Huntsville Social Media Club
Social Media Club Huntsville http://www.socialhuntsville.org helps companies learn to use social media for business. For those looking to learn to use Twitter, Facebook, or Linked In or some other social network for business, this club can be a fantastic avenue to help you to connect with more like minded people. Ryan Poole , president of The Mark E. Ting Company , (http://www.markappeal.com) is the current director.
Huntsville Drupal Group
There is a Huntsville Drupal group which shares knowledge about issues users of Drupal encounters. As to the status of the group, it is not quite clear, as content on the site has not been updated for a while; but the site does share some important tips on using Drupal and web links are all working.
So here you have it. These are 4 great sources of vital information to help you on your journey to online success, or, if you are a web professional, help you network with other web heads like yourself.
I am sure there may be other sources that teach or share web development in Huntsville. If you think that I have left out one or more, please post a message below to the Real Deal Neal. Or, if you have question on a website issue, just drop me a line or call: 256-360-9080
HUNTUG
Subsequent to my last post, I came across HUNTUG - Huntsville New Technology User Group. The goal of HUNTUG is to promote the knowledge of new Windows technologies and to a build a community of developers, administrators and other infrastructure support technicians in North Alabama. This is a fabulous group to join as they host speakers on a variety of technology subjects on a frequent basis.
